Alone
by Isaac Harcourt
Summary: A man awakens in a place he does not recognize and find that he is literally all alone.
1. Awakened

(I don't know where I am... In bed? Not mine.. Someone else's.. I don't recognize this room. Where am I?)

A dim light emanates from a dying lamp a few feet away, I can hear a mild wind outside blowing leaves around. I sit up in bed only to be greeted by a raging headache, something eerily similar to getting whacked in the forehead with a frying pan.

My hands go to my head as if that action alone would stop the throbbing... (God, what's going on?) I swing my feet off the bed and they make contact with the floor, it feels cold... (Tile? Why the fuck do I care what kind of floor it is? Where the hell am I?) My legs force me up seemingly on their own and I find that I'm walking towards a curtained window, my hand brushes aside the curtains... I was right, it is fall, but... I remember it being winter...A few moments ago? That's impossible.. Seasons don't change that quickly... How long was I lying in that bed for?

"Hello?" I called out, my voice trembling.. No answer. "Is anyone here?" I called again, attempting to make myself sound louder, less frightened. If anyone fell for it, I should be eligible for a goddamn oscar... No answer. My feet drag the rest of me over to the door, and my hands simultaneously grab the knob. "What are you doing?" I ask myself in a harsh whispering tone (Stay here. Whoever lives in this house probably kept you here for a reason) "Fuck that." I responded to myself. I was beginning to sound like I had DID, so I decided to stop talking to myself. "Stop it." I muttered, negating my own decision and opened the door, peeking through the tiny crack between the door and frame I had just made...

No one out there, just a couch, a lamp and a bearskin rug... the rug wasn't going to answer me if I called... I tried anyway.. "Hello?" No answer... the door somehow managed to open itself up the rest of the way and I was slipping out of it, moving towards the front door. "Wait, wait wait wait!" I scolded myself. (You still don't know what you are doing here. And you don't even have a shirt or shoes on!) An odd thought, I admit, but I kept on thinking of those stupid signs in front of stores 'No shoes, no shirt, no problem.' Or, something like that... I made my way back into the room I woke up in and found a shirt, my shirt on the floor... It was red with an Atari logo on it. Geekiest shirt I've ever owned.

I rushed back to the main (Maybe?) room of the house and looked for some shoes, and managed to find a pair of dress shoes that were two sizes too big, but they would do... Just as I was putting them on, the door slammed open, making me jump back and yelp... But no one came in, no nice old lady, no demon from hell, no girl guide, and I was fine with that. I took this moment to run out the door, a harsh wind knocked me back a bit, this wind was also responsible for the door opening on me. When I got outside, I looked back at the house, it was a red brick one storey house, smoke was coming out of the chimney, but oddly enough, there was no fire in the fireplace.. Was there? I didn't care. I only cared about getting out of there. I turned back around and saw many more houses with cars parked in front of them, but every house had its door wide open and blowing in the wind. Wasn't anybody home?

"Helllooooo?!" I called down the street.. "HEEEELLLOOOO?!" As usual, nobody answered. I took down the street, looking at every house as I walked by them, noting the numbers in case I needed to return to this one (Why the hell would I do that? Do you really feel safe in there?) "Safer than out here." I muttered and kept going until I hit some street signs

--Bunter Rd--

Wellin Dr

I was on Wellin Dr and Bunter was crossing my path.. Neither of these sounded familiar.. "Hey, look!" (stop talking to yourself.) A store was in the distance, a name I recognized--Vondale Foods, we have those all over Grainsborough, maybe I was still there, but in a part of the city I didn't know about. I walked, jogged, ran to the store and when I finally made it, I pushed the door open to find the store was deserted... Every single item for sale was intact, the power was still on, the goddamn slush puppies were still fresh. "Hello?" I was getting tired of asking if anyone was here. Upon finding out I was all alone in the store, I realized I was hungry. (There's no one here... Why not grab a bite?) My hand reached forward and grabbed a hostess cupcake pack and squeezed it to make sure it was still fresh, within seconds it was in my mouth (Holy shit. You're acting like you haven't eaten in a year) "Have I?" If anyone was here, they'd clearly thing I was completely insane, the way I keep rambling to myself. I stuffed a few more cupcakes into my mouth and browsed the aisles... Cookies... Chips... Pop... A notepad, pen... the essentials and grabbed a bag from behind the counter. My eyes caught sight of the display of scratch tickets... (no one's here.. You might as well..) "No, what if you're coming back?" (No one's coming back. Look around outside) "No, no. I'm already taking this stuff, I'm not taking these too!" (Come on, you might win big) "NO!" I shouted, by this time I was outside, my voice making a large echo down the street, surely enough of an echo to alert someone, make them look outside, surely.

Nothing.


	2. A Beach

It had taken me about 10 minutes to reach the end of Wellin Dr. and I was looking at a beach. The wind had gotten stronger and colder here, and me without a jacket. (Why didn't you grab a jacket?) I stared across the lake (ocean?) in front of me, trying to find land across it, but to no avail. With a sigh, I sat down in the sand and picked some of it up in my hands, it was cool and slightly damp, perhaps it had rained a few days ago. I wouldn't know. I've been asleep for 9 months, apparently.

After a brief contemplative period, I stood up and walked along the beach, hoping to find some other signs of life, but there was nothing. No birds chirping, no fish in the water, not even a bug in the air. (I was starting to miss bugs now, sweet, annoying bugs..). Eventually, my eyes caught sight of a small house with smoke coming from the chimney. "Yes! People!" I shouted as I sprinted to the house and knocked on the door, first gently, then banged on it like a raving lunatic. (If I was in there, I certainly wouldn't have opened the door for me.) "You're insane, you lunatic." I muttered to myself and tried to turn the doorknob. I pictured in my mind the many things that could be on the other side.. A family having dinner, a playboy photo shoot, maybe? No such luck. All that was inside were a table, two chairs and a fireplace, with some smoldering embers. (Was someone here? You are. Sit down, have a drink, reminisce on the good old days.) "Yeah, before the world went all blank on me." I scoffed and shut the door, heading back outside. I had a strange thought involving the movie 28 Days Later. This seems a lot like it, but with a lot less zombie.

I tried my hand at calling out to someone, anyone. Hell, even a Zombie would do. Just so long as there was someone here. "Hellloooooo?! IS ANYONE THERE?!" (I am. Knock-Knock.). I gave up and headed back down Wellin Dr to the convenience store. One thing I forgot to check was the newspapers to see the dates on them, and if anything major happened that might be on there. Oddly enough, it took me only 5 minutes to get back to the store (Or did it only seem like that because trips are faster the way back. You don't even have a watch.). Opening the door, I peeked inside to make sure shopkeep didn't return to find his hostess snack cakes had been ravaged. (Nope, no one here. Raid that shit!) My busy hands fumbled around the newspaper rack and found a paper dated January 15th, 2007. That had to have already passed, it's fall again. (Maybe it wasn't fall, maybe I wound up in some other climate where fall happens in January! Or, maybe the seasons are being skipped? Or…. Maybe I'm just INSANE!). What happened that day? A building caught fire… A congressman got shot.. Nothing I needed. I dropped the newspaper and left the store once again and started towards the house I woke up in, maybe there was some kind of clue there.

The door was wide open and I could see inside, there was no fire in the fireplace, but still, smoke was coming from the chimney. The bearskin rug stared at me from inside, almost asking 'Why? Why are you coming back? I would, but I've got no bone structure!' But it clearly couldn't say that. Could it? "Oh, don't look at me like that." I muttered to it with disdain. "You'd do the same thing. Its the most secure place I can think of, since I don't see a Wal-Mart anywhere here." As I entered, the door slammed shut behind me. Strange how it keeps doing shit like that.. .I sat down on a plain wooden chair beside the dead fireplace and placed my head in my hands.

(You know, this is like waking up with a terrible fucking hangover.) "I know, its almost like its some kind of practical joke." (Maybe by Johnny?) "Wait, who?" It occurred to me that I was talking to myself again. I had just remembered that I didn't have a Dis-associative Identity. It was something I picked up a few years ago to help me deal with my divorce. I yelled and argued with myself as a way to deal with my own demons in stead of taking it out on others. Everyone thought I was insane, but the way I looked at it, by keeping my anger in check and not involving others needlessly, I was more sane than them.

"Right?"

(Right.)


End file.
